Pitted prune and method of pitting it.



PATENTED FEB. 26, 1907.

N. B. CONVERSE. PITTED PRUNE AND METHOD OF FITTING IT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1906.

f 1 UNITED' STArESPT-ENT OFFICE..

NEWTON'B. CONVERSE; oi? ERESNO,CAI-.IEORNIA7 ASSIGNOR To IIIMSELE ANDFRANCIS M. wRIeI-Ir, TRUSTEES, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. '26, 1907.

' No. 845,695. Q y

r 'plilication filed Novembergo. Serial No. 345,635.

between the draiperslare also closed steamf' pipes 14. 5 5

The.specieconstruction ot the apparatusl above described forms no partof the present inventiom' n The prunes are retained in thecookingchamber for a suiicientlen'gth of time, depending upon thetemperature of the steam, to semicook the prunes. By the swordMse'micook here and in the claims, as distinguished Jr'rom "partlycooked, is meant that the runes are cooked suflci'entlyto destroy -6 5`the Inherent tendency of the ulp tooling to the pit@ A partial cookingW ich did not'eflfect this result would not be sufficient for` carryingoutth-is process. When semicooked in the above manner by steam and heat,this property of adhesionis destryedbefore the prunes' are fully'cooked-that is, cooked to the consistency and tenderness generally de- Asired for table use. Theprefix semi `is therefore not used in'the exactsense of halfappears to arise from the4 characterof the cooked, butmerely that the pulp shall be prune, which is dried .from a cling-stonesuiiiciently cooked to readil part from the plgm, the pulp of` the pruneadhering to its pit without being fully coo ed. Y From 'y the pit withgreat tenacity,I thus rendering the cooking-chamber the prunesare.discharged rune very difficult-to pit by machinery or in into a `chute15 leading to aprune-pitting arge )quantities` I have, however,disovmachine 16, .Whichresembles araisin-seeding ered aprocessbywhichthe pitscan be read# machine in general construction-thatis to 3Q ily extracted andthe 'prunes repared in a' say it comprises anim aling-cylinder 17,'y ,more 'convenient and desira lemforrn vfor4 uponwhich the body of t eprune is impaled To a/ZZ whom it may con/cern,.-l

Be it knownthat LNEWTON B. CONVERSE, ay citizen of the UnitedStatea'residing at` Fresno, in the county of Fresno and State of 5California, haveinvented new and useful Im. provements in PittedPrunesand Methods of y ,fitting Them, of whichl the' following 'is ,aspecification. J The object of the present invention is Vto xo -provideas a novel articleof manufacture prunes so prepared as to-'be moreconveniently and more economically cooked and in a more desirableform asfood than hereto'-q fore and also possessing other advantagesin 15economy an convenience hereinafter `set '-fOI'll. A* if t G I `A furtherobject -is to 4provide a process of, treating the Iprunes for the abovepurpose;

i ISO far as am aware prunes have never to ao, fany'considerable extentIbeen ,put on the `market 'except in their natura condition,-unpittedmanduncooked. 'lhe. cau-se of: this 2 (proved process.

transportation andiforretail sall y l. y In theaccompanying'drawin" eigiire is a broken longitudinal section'a view of' an 3,5,4 pparatussuitableforlcarryin'g- Qupmy mb.

' Referring 4to the drawing, 11' indicates av cooking-chamber into whichthe prunes are j @fedi-ironia hopper 2, fallin upon theupper-i ,4omostof a-vertical series' ofv 'oni'zontal travel f ing vdrapers 3, saiddxapers-travling'in o poy sitedir'ections alternately, b'eingdriven y asprocket-chain 4 around sprocket-.wheels 5@ 7 and around idle Wheels 8Q-,Ithe shaftof the `sprocket-Wheel 5 being driven :from 'a ulley l 10.The prunes fall uponthe drapers in turn f "ffby.' means" of: chutes" 11and are said Vdragers carried alternatelyA to 'o posite ends y"of t ecookingchamfber. Imme' iat'ely above so each draper is va"coil of pipe12 contann ,live steam, which is'dischar ed downwar throughperfo-*rations 13 in the lower side of the' pipevonto the prunes'onvsaid drapenand by means of a pressure-cylinder 18, having a rubbersurface, the pit ofl the prune being eX- trudedcby the ends ofthe-teethof the impaling.- cylinder. A' it-remover 21 removes from the ends of teteeth such pits Jas have notahieady fallen by gravity and hedders 2.2afterward sled the prunes from t ove process-it is imteeth.Intpracticing `the a portant that the runes be subjected for aconsiderable lengtii of time-say rom'ffteen -tithiiitfminutes-to theaction of steam and 'heat and that the temperature in the chamber bemaintained at certainlynot much less,

than boiling-point, and preferably at al higher temperature, as 2809.Infis respect the,

process differs from that o reparing raisins for the raisin-seedingmachine', [as in the case I of raisins is important that 4the temperatempera ployed.-

f' much higher temperature than fraisins mushy and unfit for` use. i Theraisinsl must not Abe cooked. This dierence in the `processes requiredfor treating prunes and raisin is no doubt 'due to the fact that in theraisins there is no inherent. tendency of the pulp to clingto the seed,as is the case with prunes, but the pulp is merely vcongealed or setabout the seed in the operation of drying the raisinl to get rid of thecap-stem. In'the case of the raisin the heat is merely imparted) tosoften the pulp, and the change effected is physical rather thanchemical. In thecase of prunes, however, a true chemical change iseffected, and the prune is actually the cooking may `not be prune .hasbeen semicooked. If not semicooked, said surface will be found Atobe`generally broken and lacerated,'.caused by its general adhesion to thesurface of the pit as the latter is extruded'. The prunethus treated bythe combined action of live steam and heat contains comparativelylittle'mois' ture and may be considered. as dryf as compared with aprune,stewed" or partly stewed in water. "Consequently )uit will keepjust as long as van unpitted prune and will not ferment f Moreover, thelsaccharine and other`constituen/ts which-:would be' dissolved orinfused by the direct action of boil ing water are retained inthe prune.In other words, the prune remainsint-egral as regards the edible.portion thereof, the onlyv part discarded-being-the `it. Inthis-respect alsoit differs from stewe prunes.

The product thus prepared is a .valuable article of manufacture fer thefollowing reasons: -First, it dispenses With the Ynecessity of removmgthe pits from the cooked prunes when eating them; secondfit saves-laborin preparing uddings, souffls, vand, -other dishes of w 'ch prunes forman ingredient,

` and'lit serves to extend the use of prunesin cook-ing, sincethesel'nicooked pitted prunes may be minced or chopped fine and used asare raisinsin tmaking mmce-meatand the like; third, it saves time inVcooking; foprth,

it. saves fuel in* cooking; the p eliminary cookinginthe factory costinglcom aratively little; fifth, theJ prunescan be readily compressed,which theunprepared prunes cannot, andhencefthe prepared prunes are inconpulp, indicates whether the prune has venient form for retail salein` cartons, or they can vbe strongly compressed in square blocks; sixth,the Weight of the product is less and the cost of trans ortationcorrespondingly reduced sevent the-pits heretofore wasted can now beutilized as a by-product; eighth,'the 'prunes thus prepared keep equallyas Well as the ordinary uncooked and unpitted prunes.

1. As an article ofmanufacture, a dry, semicooked, pitted prune,substantially as described. A v

2. As an article of manufacture a dry, semicooked, edibly integral,pitted prune, substantially as describe L 3. As an article ofmanufacture, a dry,' cooked, pittedfprune, the surface of the pitcavitybeing substantially smooth or unbroken, substantially as described.

4. As an article of manufacture, ,a dl'y, cooked, edibly integral pittedprune, the surface ofl the pit-cavity being substantially smooth .orunbroken,y substantially as described. p

5. The process of treating "prunes which consists in semicooking theprune to render the pul freely separable from the pit, and then, W ilethe pulp immediately around the pit is ystill hot,' passing the 'prunebetween lmpaling and-pressure devices to extrudethe prune, substantiallyas deand pressure devices to eXt-rude-the pit from l, l

the prune, substantially as described. l

7. The process'of treating 'prunes which consists in cooking the prunesufficiently to Tender the pulp -freely separable fromthepit, .and then,while the pulp immediately around the pit is stillA hot, passing theprune vbetween impaling and pressure devices to ext-rude the p'ittherefrom, substantially as described.- v 8. The processof'treating).prunes. which consists in' cooking the prune y dry heat andh lsteamalone.sufficiently'togrender the pulp freely separable fromthe pit, andthen, While fthe pulp immediately around the pit is still hotf/passingthe prune between impaling and pressure' .devices to eXtrude the fron,substantially as described. Intestimony whereof AI have hereunto setmyhand inthe presence of two. subscribing Witnesses. f 'f l1,3'.coNvaRsE. i

' vFRANcIs M. WRIGHT.

IIC

pit there-

